A data company cosplaying as a media business
Pros
I have worked with some very talented people, though they have generally been underutilised or treated badly by the company
Cons
Where to start? To be fair, I have only worked within the media division, and can't comment on work culture in other divisions. But there are a lot of cons. GlobalData is publicly traded but operates like a private business. Strategy is dictated solely by the CEO and his views, plans and allegiances can completely change from one day to the next. He seems to have a very successful data business and dreams of building a media business on top (in the style of Bloomberg) but his strategy for doing this is haphazard. The company periodically invests heavily in media staff in an effort to turbocharge the division but without a coherent plan of how to make the most of that resource. These employees are then generally made redundant within a couple of years. The pattern is then repeated. Those who have worked at the company for a long time are one who kept their heads down and kept churning out the same type of content year after year. The company often has very competent people floating around but they are rarely given any real direction or decision-making power. The CEO prefers yes-men who will bend to his every whim, often drafted over from the data side of the business. The current management of the media division lack any real experience at major media companies. It just doesn't feel like you are working for a media business. It is very clear that journalism is merely a tool for selling more data, and is not seen by management as having any intrinsic value in of itself. That is fair enough as a sales strategy but when it is so obvious to journalist it makes for a demoralising workplace environment. Townhall meetings focus solely on sales targets and there is never any detailed discussion about media strategy or news culture. All of this is bad but by far the worst part of the company is its HR department, which is by far the least competent of any company I have worked for. There is not even a pretence of employee care, when you join, while you are working for it, or when you leave. Redundancies come with no warning and little after care, with just the bare minimum of process. The way some of my colleagues have been treated by the company is appalling. Whole swathes of people can be disappeared without any announcement or justification to wider staff. If impacted line managers are (belatedly) given reasons, these often do stand up to scrutiny. It is more likely that senior management will just ghost anyone asking questions. The vacuum created by this lack of communication leads to paranoia and distrust throughout the workforce. The HR department seems weirdly proud of initiatives which would not have looked innovative 10-15 years ago. These are often fig leaves for bad corporate behaviour or just not very progressive. The nepotism scheme - sorry, the family member internship scheme, is a good example. The latest of these is a graduate scheme for journalists which has been heralded by HR as if it had never been done before. Its aim is to provide cheap labour for meeting new increased targets for news output across all titles. Weirdly, it has been sold to the rest of the division as a major investment in editorial. The company also recently launched employee groups focused in diversity and inclusion. These seem good at organising webinars and drinks events but ill-equipped to change the company's corporate culture. In townhalls the head of HR champions the company's ethnic diversity, conveniently ignoring the large workforce based in India which skews the data. Less attention is paid to the fact over 70% of senior managers are men. If you are serious about a media career and want to feel valued by your employer, stay well clear of GlobalData.
